14 June 2016

Red Ceylon dress

I have to admit something....

I love this dress! But I made it in 2012 and never blogged about it :-(

Even the pictures are of a bad quality because they were made with an old iPhone, so not the best camera to use... and pictures taken inside, not a good idea. But here I am, sharing the pictures anyway. Mostly because I'm in love with this pattern and want to share this with you. The pattern is called Ceylon and is from Colette. I fell for the the styling and vintage feel of their patterns. I fell for the Ceylon pattern, hard. It has everything I want in a dress:
Buttons, cute sleeves, not too much cleavage, waist definition and a wide skirt part. The only thing I'm missing is pockets (perhaps I can add those myself?).

Bought this pattern at Penelope's Craft shop (now it's Stephen&Penelope and moved to a new location). Back then I didn't knit as much as I do now, so the store's beautiful yarns overwhelmed me a bit at that time (and the prices as well). But now it's something of a walhalla of yarns for me, though I have to admit I haven't visited the new shop yet. This pattern was my first Colette pattern and it didn't disappoint me. After seeing a couple of reviews of this dress I decided to make a mock-up. This version from Roisin (that piping is to die for!) and this one from Doortje (love her lace hem) are especially lovely Ceylon versions!

I must confess: I'm a lazy seamstress and most of the time I don't make a mock-up of a pattern. Sometimes it works, the pattern fits and I get away with it. Sometimes it doesn't and it takes me more time to correct the pattern flaws/fitting problems. This time I knew this pattern would need a perfect fit in the bust area, so making a mock-up is a very good idea. The pattern flares from the waist down, so there was a great chance the skirt part would fit just perfect. So, still a lazy seamstress, only made a mock-up of the upper part :D
I tweaked the mock-up a bit, took it in under the arms, because I have a small ribcage.
I love the little booklet from Colette with all the sewing directions, it's great to store your patterns in at the back! The instructions are clear and I had no trouble sewing this dress. Only thing that bothered me was sewing all those buttonholes... not my favourite kind of sewing.
The buttons are made using buttonmoulds and have the same fabric as the dress. In my opinion having buttons of the same colors is easy on the eyes. The red of the dress is already quite eyecatching, if I would have used different coloured buttons the effect would be a bit too overwhelming. I'm in love with this dress!! Only downside: cotton sateen wrinkles like hell :-( Have you used this pattern? Did you like it?
Bye,